For a change, this post has nothing to do with the Stacey Burns murder.
It has to do with my grandson, Ben. With apologies to Art Linkletter, I do agree with his famous cliché that kids do say the darndest things. With Ben, I will change that to kids say great things.
Two nights ago, I was working on a crucial scene in my work-in-progress-almost-finished-novel. It is a conversation between a boy and his dad about the deer hanging in the back yard, a hunting success for the father.
Ben asked if he could read some of my book for his required reading for the day. I let him read a page or so leading up to that conversation. I then invited him to help me with the conversation and we did a role-playing exercise. Ben’s ideas for the dialogue of the young boy in that conversation were great! His perspective reinforced the need for a writer to be sure he is looking at what his characters are saying from their perspective, not from his.
You will be able to read this dialogue in Cracks in the Wall, my new novel which will soon enter the editing stage.
Thanks, Ben!
Duke
Oh No! You cheated us. Where is Ben’s dialogue?
You can’t tease us into curiosity, and then not deliver. I feel let down.
Suggestion: include Ben’s suggested dialogue and dispense with the lesson learned; let the reader come to his own conclusions.
Three cheers for Ben!???
You must remember my house at the corner, my dad not only hung his deer proudly out front, but more times than not it was the topic of conversation purely because of it’s massive size. Back in the 70’s when I would be challenged by some ‘gun grabber’ type or some ‘animal lover’ type on the bus I smiled and offered them some heart. Who knew we were border line psycho’s ? We called it ‘life’.